


Glow

by laughtales



Category: One Piece
Genre: Family, Fluff, Gen, everyone has a brother complex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:21:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23017699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughtales/pseuds/laughtales
Summary: Ace is not the only one on the Moby Dick with a brother complex.Or, the Whitebeards take a trip to show Ace something. Hopefully the reality lives up to the memory considering the disastroussix hourtrek inland it took to get there.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace & Whitebeard Pirates
Comments: 12
Kudos: 194





	Glow

It’s worth it.

It’s worth it, they think, to see the uninhibited _joy_ on their youngest’s face.

It’s worth the stupidly, atrociously arduous trek from where they anchored the Moby Dick _six hours_ ago.

It’s worth Izou’s disheveled hair and imperfect make-up after he chases a pretty bird that decided it wanted his hair piece for its nest. When they catch up with him a mile later, he’s got twigs sticking out of his not-so-immaculate hair, his make-up is smudged with dirt and grime, and there are literal ruffled feathers sticking to his kimono.

But at least he got his hair piece back and he decides to forgive the dastardly thing when he sees the nostalgia on Ace’s face as he reminisces on his childhood. Memories of running wild with Luffy around a forest not unlike this one and there’s a tinge of something else when he touches the crossed-out S on his arm but even that is warm and precious.

He’s still shooting the damn thing though if it, or any of its kin, comes close to him again.

It’s worth Thatch’s dramatics to being sacrificed to the hidden swamp by his brothers. They only know it’s there from their last visit and this time is no prettier than the last because they really should have known better than to send Thatch to scout even if he did draw the short straw.

After Thatch falls in the swamp for the third time, he admits defeat and starts throwing swamp at his brothers who retaliate with a vengeance and Ace laughs. Ace laughs at the mud caked on his brothers, hands holding his stomach from laughter cramps until he takes a mud shot to the face and he blinks. And blinks again and launches himself full body at Thatch to thoroughly give him a mud bath.

One of his other brothers can fish him out once they’ve had enough.

Marco cackles and dodges his family’s attempts of shooting him out of the sky, calling him a cheater and a spoilsport. They get their revenge later and delight in the squawk he makes when they ambush him with loving mud-caked hugs. Marco submits graciously but the smugness in his smile doesn’t go unnoticed. He dropkicks them all into the river to clean up.

At least they don’t need shirts where they’re going.

The sun has long set by the time they’re roasting alligator and wild boar - _courtesy of a far too enthusiastic, experienced, and overjoyed Ace_ \- by a fire - _also courtesy of Ace_ \- and they’re tired and gross and it’s been so long since they left the ship. Small doubts begin to creep and maybe, just maybe, they hyped up the memory too much.

But when they finally reach their destination, a lagoon where the ocean meets a bay, there’s not a doubt in anyone’s mind because while the sight is pretty much exactly what they remember, the childlike _wonder_ on their youngest brother’s face makes the entire trip more than worth it.

There’s a brief moment of confusion on Ace’s face until Thatch and his other non-hammer brothers launch into the water and the most breathtakingly luminescent _blue_ blooms from the waves of impact. Those who can’t swim run through the lapping waves and leave glowing footprints in their wake and Ace is _mesmerized_.

 _How?_ He asks as he chases after the others leaving his own mark on the beach and traces his finger in the sand and watches his doodles come to life.

 _Why!_ He exclaims in awe as he splashes those in the water with wave after wave.

 _Something in the water,_ someone answers him, _makes it glow when they’re disturbed._ But Ace really doesn’t care about the actual answer because he would’ve been equally satisfied if someone shrugged and said _no idea, it’s the New World._

 _It’s worth it,_ Marco thinks when he morphs amidst brilliant blue and gold and ignores everyone shouting at him to _turn the fire off, you’re blinding us over here!_ and dips a wing in invitation to Ace. He’s made it perfectly clear that he is _not_ a ride and _no one_ should _ever_ ask nor expect one from him unless _absolutely_ _life-threateningly_ necessary. But he takes to the skies ignoring half-hearted yells about favoritism with Ace on his back and Pops laughing heartily on the shore.

If Ace thought the view from the ground was beautiful, the sight from the sky is indescribable. The bloom around his family radiates like a physical manifestation of happiness and Ace has lost the ability to communicate coherently.

It makes him just a little sad he can’t join them in the water.

Marco seems to anticipate it because one second Ace is enjoying the view and the next Marco seems committed to drowning the both of them with the way he dives and plummets from the sky. He spreads his wings at the last moment and skims across the water, talons dragging, kicking up a wall that encases them in luminescent waves reflecting the light of Marco’s flames.

Marco doesn’t have to see Ace to know that there are literal sparkles in his eyes, that breathless hitch in his throat is enough to tell him that and more and when Marco slows down enough that there’s just a line of lapping waves in their wake, Ace says with a fondness in his voice that spans the entire world, how he definitely has to bring Luffy and his crew here when they finally make it to the New World.

It’s worth it.

It’s worth Izo threatening to shoot every bird out of the sky. It’s worth incredulous Thatch with his unrecognizable hair. It’s worth everyone ruining their clothes in favour of a mud fight and over-enthusiastic Ace hunting down game for dinner. It’s also worth the _eight hour_ return trip that will probably be just as disastrous as the trek in.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a visit to the Luminous Lagoon in Jamaica.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments make my day <3


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